Dog owners who wish to surrender their pets to the Knox County Animal Shelter so that the pet can be placed for adoption can do so but must pay a $120 fee, the same fee the shelter charges for adopting a dog, John Carhart, Knox County dog warden, told the Mount Vernon News.
"It's been that way for as long as I can remember," he said.
The shelter also offers euthanasia services for a fee of $50 for licensed dogs and $66 for unlicensed, Carhart said.
State law doesn't require the county to accept owner-surrendered dogs, Carhart said.
"It's a service outside of what we are required to do by law."
The $120 fee offsets some of the costs of caring for the pet, Carhart said.
"We try to get the costs covered up front," he said.
With stray dogs, the shelter provides the care up front and recovers some of the costs through the adoption fee, he said.
All dogs at the shelter are kept until they are adopted, he said.
"Some dogs take longer than others to adopt, but we don't euthanize dogs for space," he said. "We only euthanize dogs for aging, ailing and aggression issues."
Owners who wish to surrender their dogs should call the shelter at 740-393-6713.
"They make a phone call. We talk to them about it and let them know when they can come in with the dog," he said.
The shelter also offers pens outside the shelter where stray dogs can be dropped off after regular business hours.
The drop pens are locked but have instructions on the door on how to punch in a code and open the door.
"They are locked doors and you have to follow the instructions to get in them," he said.
In any given month, the numbers of dogs brought to the shelter and the number that are adopted are about the same.
"We can have two dogs on the adoption floor or we can have 10," he said. "There have been times when we had 30 on the adoption floor. But over the past few years, we have been able to move dogs out pretty quickly."
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